Tag Archives: Travel journalism

The Savoy hotel guide for Forbes

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Often called “London’s most famous hotel,” The Savoy holds a special place in the heart of this great European city. Opened in 1889 as the first truly high-end hotel in Britain, The Savoy has been at the forefront of decadence ever since, having introduced a series of mod cons ranging from electric lighting to hot running water, en suite bathrooms to air-conditioning. Today, the hotel retains its ability to keep pace with modern luxury (every room boasts MP3 players and flat-screen TVs) while retaining the old-fashioned prestige and opulence that has seen figures ranging from Winston Churchill to Frank Sinatra pass through its famous revolving doors. The Savoy has been one of the world’s finest hotels for more than 120 years, and it’s a position it will maintain for many more years to come.

So says the introduction to my brand new Q&A piece on London’s Savoy hotel for Forbes Travel Guide/Startle.com. You will also find everything you need to know about its rooms, restaurants, location and unusual design aesthetic.

You can read the entire thing here. And later, keep a beady eye out for my hotel guides to other London giants including the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park (and its lovely spa), The Goring and The Dorchester… coming soon.

Travel guide writing for Forbes

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During the last couple of months, I have been employed as a Travel Guide Consultant for the renowned Forbes Travel Guide, contributing a variety of content on cities across Europe for their new online platform Startle.com.

To date, I have completed ‘Question and Answer’ projects for ten major cities throughout the continent, namely Edinburgh, Glasgow and London (Great Britain), Frankfurt (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Salzburg and Vienna (Austria), Stockholm (Sweden), Warsaw (Poland) and Zurich (Switzerland), and with any luck there will be more guides to come soon.

You can keep track of every contribution on my Forbes biography page.

The Search for Ischia’s Wild Seaside Spa

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A few days ago (on Saturday 4th February, to be precise) I had a brand new travel article published in the leading British newspaper The Daily Telegraph. It’s all about a rather chilly quest to find the secret seaside spring of Il Sorgeto, which is (in turn) on the Italian island of Ischia, and this is how it starts…

““Have you got the eels?” I ask, teeth chattering, as my girlfriend steps off the yacht and onto the deserted jetty. She nods. “And the mullet, too? And the calamari?” She holds the bulging bag of seafood aloft with one gloved hand, as she pulls her jacket tight with the other, and I grin a chapped-lip grin. Now all we need is a scooter rental shop. One that’s open in December…”

If you’d like to read on, you can either view the print version here or take a look at the online version instead. Enjoy!

Ischia’s Wild Winter Warmers

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I have had a new travel article published in February issue of Shoestring Travel Magazine. It’s about the hot springs of Ischia in Italy, and here’s how it starts:

“It was one of those bitterly cold December days in southern Italy, when the chill wraps itself around your bones and draws you towards winter, and I was freezing to the seat of my newly-rented scooter. The frosted palms and agave plants blurred at my sides as I tore down the mountain, enduring the icy gales for the tropical target that lay ahead: one of Italy’s wildest and most unique thermal spas…”

If you’d like to read more, simply click here for the whole article. Or you can visit the Shoestring website to read the entire (excellent) edition of the mag absolutely free.

Getting Back to Losing Ways

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As England’s World Cup dreams turn to soiled bed sheets for the second time in six short months, Joseph Reaney asks if it’s time for the country to get back to losing ways.

After a week of endless debates, accusations and excuses, the country has finally settled on the key reasons why England’s vomit-inducing World Cup pity plea ended its long life nestling in the u-bend of an Alpen-clogged Swiss shitter. In the end, we decided, it all came down to three things: the British media’s nasty habit of reporting the facts, the FA’s naivety/arrogance/collective ugliness and Sepp Blatter’s thoroughly unpatriotic lack of neutrality (although personally I’d also like to see some of the blame fall at the feet of Guy Garvey – after all, there are only so many times you can listen to One Day Like This without feeling the irrepressible need to defect to Russia.) But whatever the reasons for the nation’s failure, the simple fact is that England weren’t good enough. What baffles me is why this constitutes news; surely not being good enough is what we’re good at. Continue reading →

Transdniestr: Last Kid on the Bloc

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I’ve recently had a travel article published in the latest issue of Shoestring Travel Magazine. It’s about Transdniestr – the last remaining communist state on the old Eastern bloc – and here’s how it starts:

“1989 was a watershed moment for Europe. It was the year when Poland, after 44 years of stringent Soviet rule, finally turned its back on the communist ideal. This act of defiance was the spark that lit the fire of revolution across Eastern Europe, and within the next three years East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and more than a dozen other socialist states – including Russia itself – had overthrown their respective governments and entered a new era of capitalist democracy. Communism in Europe was dead and buried.

Well, almost buried. For as the world watched Poland and co. march towards a bright new dawn, no-one seemed to notice that one tiny piece of the Eastern Bloc had been left behind…”

If you’d like to read more, simply click here for the whole article. Or you can visit the Shoestring website to read the entire issue for free. I’ve also been commissioned to write for the next Shoestring Magazine, so watch this space.